“Every evening, the Israelites had meat from the quails that
flew into the camp. In the morning, they had manna for bread,” the
teacher explained before asking, “Where did the children of Israel
get food in the wilderness?”

A hand popped up. “I know!” the boy exclaimed. “They had to meet
the quails and get banana bread.” The other children laughed, and
the boy broke out crying.

When you work with children, you may run into this type of
situation. You may not know a child has a learning disability until
you ask that child to do something.

A learning disability may appear in many forms and have several
symptoms. By becoming aware of different types of learning
disabilities and how to handle them, you can alleviate
misunderstandings and embarrassment for children. Some common
learning disabilities:

Reading and language delays
When 9-year-old Amy was asked to read, “Daniel was in the lion’s
den,” she read, “Daniel saw the lion dead.” Children with reading
and language delays often reverse words or skip words and letters.
Unless a parent tells you about the child’s reading disability, you
won’t discover it until you ask the child to read aloud.

Written language delays
Whenever the teacher asks Joshua to copy the Bible verse on the
board, he is disruptive. Joshua acts out to avoid becoming
embarrassed by his disability. When Joshua does write, he spells
many words wrong. He leaves out punctuation and spacing between
words.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
Seven-year-old Jason received notoriety in the church at an early
age. As an infant, he was inconsolable; he fought all cuddling. As
a toddler, he tore through the hallways, wrote on walls and knocked
over chairs. He never seemed to sit still. Tests at school revealed
that Jason had a high IQ and neurological signs of ADD. Children
with ADD have difficulty in following instructions and in
remembering numbers and letters.

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